A suspected prowler has been sentenced after he was linked in December to the disappearance of $4,700 in cash from a restaurant in The Villages.
Scott David Baran, 31, of Lady Lake, was sentenced last month in Lake County Court to 22 days in the Lake County Jail with credit for 22 days already served. He pleaded no contest to a charge of prowling.
He was jailed on the prowling charge in December after he appeared to match a suspect caught on surveillance taking $4,700 in cash from a safe at Jersey Mike’s Subs at Rolling Acres Plaza in The Villages. A police officer spotted Baran in a booth at the Circle K/Shell gas station at 3 La Grande Blvd. on the Historic Side of The Villages. The Ohio native slipped out the door before the detective had a chance to detain him. The detective found Baran hiding in some bushes near Tarrson Boulevard.
He had been placed on probation last year on a charge of retail theft. However, he failed to complete the terms of his probation by skipping appointments, failing to perform community service and failing to complete an anti-shoplifting course. He also was arrested in 2021 on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and driving while license suspended. He was arrested in 2019 on a Marion County warrant charging him with theft.